Hardin County History - Alger
Alger School
Alger was incorporated in 1896. It was initially plotted as a station on the Chicago-Atlantic Railroad (later Erie Lackawanna) to haul crops of mostly onions from the fields to other parts of the country. Alger was first named Jaggers for Elias and Maria Jagger who supplied 40 acres for the town to be built on in 1882. In 1890, the name was changed to Preston for six months until it was discovered that another town in Ohio had the same name. It was later changed to Alger to honor Ohio born Michigan Governor
Russell A. Alger, who was a descendant of one of the pioneer families of Ohio.
Alger had a blacksmith shop run by Lewis A. Ankerman who manufactured big disks that were worn on the each hoof of the horses to keep them from sinking in the Black Swamp muck. Ankerman also started the Alger bank, which is still in service today as a branch of the Liberty National Bank.
Alger suffered a disastrous fire in 1909 which destroyed much of the downtown business district including a hotel, a grocery, the livery stable and other businesses which were never rebuilt. Prior to 1910 Alger had its own newspaper called the "Alger Gazette" and had a population of 1000 people.
Updated 8/12/00
Some of the above information was taken from the Ada Herald Historical Section dated August 2, 2000.